General
Effective Lead Generation Strategies You Should Try
“We need more leads”
If you’re in sales and marketing, you’ve probably heard these words or said them to your team.
Rightly so, since growing the business depends on your ability to attract high-quality leads and gradually turn them into paying customers.
For this to happen, you’ll need lead generation strategies that increase brand awareness, generate interest in your products/services, and encourage potential customers to engage.
Strategies that create new opportunities for you to capitalize on and close.
To that end, we have laid out five tactics that may help boost your lead generation efforts.
1. Invest in Lead Generation Software
Sales and marketing teams spend a lot of time collecting and analyzing contact information manually. The process is tedious, time-consuming, and may yield inaccurate results.
Lead generation software makes work easier by automating the process, allowing your team to focus on other aspects of selling.
The software captures a visitor’s information at points of contact, whether that is a visit to your landing page or a document download, etc. You’ll learn how potential customers are interacting with your business and customize their journey accordingly.
Here are some features to look out for:
- Ease of use: look for software that’s designed for marketing teams not web developers or programmers. The team should be able to use the software without referring to or dabbling in code.
- Integrations: your preferred software should sync seamlessly with your existing Martech stack. This will make for effective inter-tool communication and reporting.
- Scalability: software that can grow with you is software worth investing in. The system should have the capacity to handle expanding operations and related needs.
- Analytics: the ability to analyze collected data and generate reports will help you streamline marketing efforts, improve operational efficiency, and improve customer interactions. Go for software that can help you do this.
2. Host Joint Venture Webinars
At some point, you realize that you’ve pitched your products/services to existing audiences and now need to find new audiences to generate sales.
Joint venture webinars are an excellent way to reach new audiences with your message. You partner with brands in complementary niches to pitch to a fresh audience.
Here are ways to make joint venture webinars more impactful:
- Choose the right partner. The best partnerships are those that involve companies that offer complementary products/services, have complementary customers, and audiences that are interested in the partnered event.
- Promote the webinar. Work with your partner to create a promotional kit that ensures your narrative and takeaways are the same – think email copy, images, videos, etc. Choose distribution channels that work for both companies.
- Prepare, prepare, prepare. Conduct dry runs to help the presenters get comfortable with each other, the webinar software, and equipment. The dry runs will help you pick up any technical difficulties that can be dealt with before the big day.
- Follow up. Capitalize on the interest you’ve generated to follow up right after the event and convert those audiences to qualified leads.
3. Create Gated Content
It takes tremendous time and effort to research, compile and package valuable information for audiences.
Putting it behind a gate means those who are genuinely interested in what you’re saying won’t mind trading their contact info for it.
Not only does gating content increase your likelihood of capturing good leads, but also gives you better insights into what prospects are looking for.
Best practices include:
- Create an optimized landing page for the specific gated content. Let the message focus solely on the material you’re sharing to ensure your visitor doesn’t get distracted and leave without completing the action.
- There is more to gated content other than PDFs. Many marketers associate gated content with PDF documents, but these aren’t the only options or formats available. You can create video series, webinars, exclusive access, exclusive communities, templates, and checklists.
- Quality over quantity. A short,information-packed e-book does more for your business and reputation than a hundred-page one full of fluff. Observe proper editing principles and deliver high-quality work.
- Make navigation easy. Use the clickable table of contents, ensure any links embedded on the document work, and use images to make the information more palatable.
4. Make Cold Calls
Research by RAIN GROUP shows that many senior levels buyers prefer to be contacted on the phone. By senior level, we’re talking c-suite and VP buyers—just the group you want to target.
Cold calling provides a platform for tapping into new markets and gaining key information concerning your target market’s needs, challenges, and expectations.
So how about brainstorming your value proposition then getting on the phone to lock in that deal?
Here are some considerations:
- Know what prospects want. Tough? Not really. Buyers are looking for ways to solve their current problems. By sharing detailed information about the features and services your solutions provide, you can influence their decisions.
- Pre-qualify prospects. Now that you know what prospects want, it’s time to pre-qualify them. Develop strong buyer personas to help you understand your target market and identify brands with the potential to turn into customers.
- Prepare for the call. Come up with a script that comprises a strong opener, a middle, and a conclusion. Test different opening statements to find the one that draws in prospects. Your middle should contain key features of your products/services, questions for the prospect, FAQs, and objections. In the conclusion is where you ask for your goal.
- Follow up. Cold calling experts say it takes on average five follow-up calls to get leads to convert. While it’s easy to give up after one or two follow-ups, don’t do it. Persistence is key in this business.
5. Leverage Email Marketing
With over 300 billion emails exchanged daily, email marketing is an effective communication channel between brands and their customers.
B2B sellers use this channel to build relationships, send out promotions, and stay in touch with customers—past, current, and potential.
Having said that, the email marketing technique will only be successful if you have the right contacts and adopt the right approach. This approach includes:
- Updating your email list. An updated and clean list ensures you reach your target audiences with messages that interest them in your offerings.
- Keeping email content concise. Life is fast-paced, readers are busy, and hardly have the time to read through lengthy emails. Shorter emails with visuals or images that can be read on the go are preferable.
- Scrap the “no-reply” email address. It makes your company look dubious, and your email just might end up in the trash. It also limits the subscriber’s ability to reach you, which may cost you countless leads.
- Link emails to specific landing pages. When a reader clicks through to your site, send them to a landing page that correlates with the email and shares more information. It saves them from navigating your site looking for information and possibly losing interest and leaving.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The National Economic Council (NEC) has approved a $4.5 billion arrangement for the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited aimed at strengthening the country’s external reserves and freeing up funds for infrastructure.
This is part of the refinancing of the $3.3 billion Project Gazelle Pre-Export Finance Facility through a new $4.5 billion facility named “Project Gazelle 2”.
The approval allows NNPC Limited to refinance the outstanding balance of approximately $1.5 billion under the original 2023 facility, while unlocking an additional $3 billion in liquidity to strengthen the country’s external reserves and support ongoing fiscal and infrastructure priorities of the government.
NEC’s approval followed a presentation by the Minister of Finance, Mr Taiwo Oyedele, which was presented by the Chairman of the Council, Vice President Kashim Shettima, underscoring the importance of the project.
NEC observed the significance of unlocking additional liquidity to the federation, among other benefits, pledging its support for the actualisation of the initiative.
The Finance Minister explained that the refinancing has been structured on more favourable terms than the original facility, including a reduction in the volume of pledged crude oil from 90,000 barrels of oil per day to approximately 78,750 barrels of oil per day – a 12.5 per cent reduction.
He noted that under the new arrangement, an additional 11,250 barrels of oil per day for the federation will be released, while there will be a reduction in the pledged crude volumes by the state oil company.
Mr Oyedele added that while accessing additional liquidity on improved terms, the arrangement is freeing up resources for strategic national priorities while strengthening the country’s financing structures.
“The arrangement is freeing up resources for strategic national priorities while strengthening the country’s financing structures,” he said.
VP Shettima called for a responsive, scalable, and data-driven social protection policy to tackle multidimensional poverty in Nigeria.
According to Mr Shettima, government policies are often heard before they are seen, speak through the price of food, condition of hospitals, records in schools, strain on families, the confidence of those who invest their labour in the nation’s future, and, very importantly, the ambitions of state governments.
He implored members of Council to ensure that every decision they make assure the citizens “that their government is paying attention to the pulse of the nation and is resolved to respond with competence, compassion and purpose.”
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Members of the public have been invited to submit memoranda and policy proposals on the proposed National Policing Bill.
The Chairman of the Working Group, Mr Femi Gbajabiamila, announced this on Monday after the team’s meeting at the State House in Abuja.
The group, headed by the Chief of Staff to President Bola Tinubu, is calling for input from Nigerians as part of efforts to establish a comprehensive legal and operational framework for state policing.
It is reviewing the Police Act 2020, the Police Service Commission framework, police regulations, and other relevant laws to support the development of an effective, modern policing system.
The proposed framework will set national minimum standards, define state readiness and grant certification, clarify jurisdictional responsibilities, ensure independent oversight, uphold human rights, and guarantee sustainable funding. It would also spell out an orderly transition to a dual-policing structure.
The call for memoranda will run for two weeks, allowing citizens, professionals, civil society, security agencies, state and local governments, academics, and other stakeholders to contribute. Submissions will be reviewed and integrated into the draft bill, which will then be subject to further national consultation before being finalised and sent to the National Assembly.
The Working Group has adopted a seven-week work programme running from July 27 to September 14, 2026. The draft Executive Bill is scheduled for presentation to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on September 3, 2026, with national consultations to follow before the final approval.
The new National Policing Bill will set out requirements for recruitment, training, oversight, funding, and transition arrangements to ensure credible, effective, and accountable policing nationwide.
“A proposed State Police Service must demonstrate that it has credible arrangements for recruitment, vetting, training, pay, pensions, equipment, custody, complaints, discipline, data, firearms control, independent oversight and financial sustainability before it begins policing,” Mr Gbajabiamila said.
The representative of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum and Governor of Ogun State, Dapo Abiodun, who described State Police as a landmark reform, described the initiative as one of the defining reforms of President Tinubu’s administration.
Responding to concerns about federal overreach, he clarified that there is no Federal attempt to control State Police. He added that the proposed legislation is intended to provide an operational framework rather than centralise control.
Prince Lateef Fagbemi, the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, said the proposed National Policing Bill is designed to guarantee the security of lives and property while ensuring that the establishment of state police does not become a tool for political persecution.
The Attorney-General added that states not immediately ready to establish their own police services would continue to benefit from the presence of the Federal Police until they meet the required standards.
Other participants at the meeting included the Inspector General of Police, Tunji Disu; President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Afam Osigwe; Chairman, Policy Advisory Committee, Justice Abdullahi Liman (rtd); Professor Olu Ogunsakin, Head, Nigeria Police Reform Secretariat; Senior Special Assistant to the President on Planning and Research, Nnadubem Moghalu; and Brigadier General Olutayo Muyiwa Adesuyi, representing the National Security Adviser.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) says it recorded a 30 per cent reduction in gas imbalance on the country’s Western Network following the conclusion of its first-half 2026 Nigerian Gas Network Reconciliation (NGNR) Workshop.
The workshop brought together gas transporters, suppliers, shippers and off-takers to reconcile gas volumes traded between January and June 2026, while introducing a Network Entry/Exit Point Measurement Infrastructure Audit Template aimed at improving metering accuracy and accountability across the gas transmission network.
In a communiqué issued after the workshop, the authority said participants also reviewed the performance of the Nigerian Gas Transmission Network, assessed progress on major pipeline infrastructure projects, and received updates on the ELPS Gas Shrinkage Factor and Hydraulic Modelling Project.
Discussions focused on addressing metering gaps, improving network visibility through Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) integration, and enhancing system reliability ahead of the commissioning of the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) Pipeline System.
The workshop adopted key resolutions, including the execution of outstanding Network Exit Agreements, mandatory submission of measurement audit templates and closer collaboration among industry stakeholders to improve network pressure management.
Speaking at the closing session on behalf of the authority’s chief executive, Mr Rabiu A. Umar, the Director of Transportation Systems and Networks, Mr Joseph G. Musa, said the biannual reconciliation exercise had become critical to promoting equitable gas transactions, transparency, investor confidence and efficient network operations.
Mr Musa noted that since the NGNR process was introduced in 2023, it had significantly improved gas measurement, strengthened regulatory compliance through consequence management, reduced operational imbalances and contributed to a more reliable domestic gas supply.
The workshop concluded with participants adopting the reconciled H1 2026 gas volumes, reaffirming the authority’s commitment to a transparent, efficient and reliable domestic gas market.
